The winter months are a great time to replenish your reading list with helpful and inspiring selections. Greek-American authors continue to delve into their family history and share their stories with readers in a variety of ways, highlighting their dedication to their Greek heritage while offering a blueprint for others to also share their stories.

While there are many Greek cookbooks available to inspire home cooks, each one offers a unique perspective on the cuisine that is well-known as one of the healthiest, if not the healthiest, in the world.

Cooking Greek: A Classic Greek Cookbook for the At-Home Chef by Pemi Kanavos with Tanya Stamoulis, editor Katherine Tsoukalas, contributor Nick Stamoulis, and cooking experts from the food forum of the Worldwide Greeks website, was published in November 2022 and includes over 70 classic Greek recipes that even beginners in the kitchen can follow. Beautiful photos of the mouthwatering dishes will also undoubtedly inspire home cooks to try the delicious recipes and perhaps also book a trip to Greece.

Chef Pemi Kanavos was born in Boston and moved with her family to Athens, Greece when she was 10, according to her biography. She returned to Boston for college, earning a degree in graphic design. Her love of cooking led her back to school to earn a second degree in Culinary Arts. Kanavos then worked in various food establishments in the Boston area, wrote a column for a Greek cooking blog, and taught Greek cooking classes for several years. Moving back and forth between Boston and Athens, she has now settled in Athens with her husband and son.

Along with her culinary arts degree and teaching experience, Kanavos also spent thousands of hours in her yiayia’s kitchen, and in the book’s introduction she notes that her yiayia and mother were both “remarkable cooks and not because they had gone to a top culinary school or apprenticed under a culinary master, but because they cooked straightforwardly and from the heart.”

Cooking Greek: A Classic Greek Cookbook for the At-Home Chef includes some of the most popular Greek recipes for appetizers, main courses, and desserts. Among the easy to follow recipes are pastitsio, moussaka, dolmades, tyropita, spanakopita, octopus, keftedes, souvlaki, tzatziki, baklava, loukoumades, and galaktoboureko. The cookbook also offers tips and information about Greek ingredients such as Greek honey and its most popular varieties, as well as a guide to the wild greens of Greece which are not only tasty but also packed with nutrients.

The food forum on Worldwide Greeks also provides an additional resource for recipe clarification, ideas for variations ideas, and the opportunity for readers to ask Kanavos and other food experts any recipe-related questions.

Kanavos along with Tanya Stamoulis and the cooking experts at Worldwide Greeks, have created an easy to read Greek cookbook that makes a great gift for foodies with an interest in traditional Greek cuisine.

Cooking Greek: A Classic Greek Cookbook for the At-Home Chef is available online in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle editions. More information is available online: https://www.worldwidegreeks.com.